Nice Mess of Morel Mushrooms Found by Chris P. Bacon

Published by Jimmy Olsun, Night Desk, Investigative Reporter and Sports Reporter

Chris P. Bacon, one of our new subscribers, stopped by the office this morning to show off a nice mess of morel mushrooms he found in the Rhineland bottom.  Mr. Bacon was pretty closed-mouthed about exactly where he found the mushrooms, leading me to wonder if he had been trespassing onto someone else's property or whether he just didn't want to draw a massive crowd of mushroom hunters to his special mushroom hot spot.

I just love fried morel mushrooms, so I was able to talk Mr. Bacon into giving me a pound of the little beauties!  I can't wait to get home to fry these babies up for dinner tonight!  The way I fix 'em is to clean 'em up real good, cut off a portion of their stems, salt and pepper 'em, dip 'em in egg yoke, then roll 'em in flour and then drop them into a frying pan over medium heat.

If you have a special recipe for morel mushrooms, I would sure like to learn about it.  Please let me know how you prefer your morels.

Jimmy Oldsun
Night Desk, Investigative Reporter and Sports Reporter
www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com

Frene Creek On The Rise!

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, Night Desk, Investigative Reporter and Sports Reporter

Frene Creek rose about 3 inches between 4 p.m. Thursday and 4 p.m Friday.  The creek water is still within its banks.  But if the water rises another foot or so, it will be lapping onto Mozart Street down by Lions Field on Eighth Street. 

We are watching this developing situation for you.  Frank Furter, our janitor, was dispatched yesterday to poke a stick into the mud at water's edge (yesterday's water level).  I will be checking the stick at 4 p.m. everday until we are out of danger to see if the creek is still rising or if it is on the stand still.  The moment the creek gets onto Mozart Street, we will report it to you so you can make plans to take an alternate route and avoid driving through the water.  We wish we could afford to mount a webcam on the Mozart Street lift station so you could monitor the water level yourself, but we are on a very tight budget and have chosen to invest our money in sticks versus webcams.

Jimmy Oldsun
Night Desk, Investigative Reporter and Sports Reporter
www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com

One-Car Crash at Gasconade Bridge

Published by Jimmy Oldsun, Night Desk, Investigative Reporter and Sports Reporter

I was working the night desk last night.  Around 1 a.m. or thereabouts early Saturday morning, I got word that there had been a serious one-car accident on Highway 100 near the Gasconade Bridge. 

Since it was late and I was pretty tired, I chose not to race out there over the winding roads behind the fire trucks and ambulances to cover the tragic accident.  I figured that I might fall asleep or lose control in my excitement and run off Highway 100 myself.  Besides there were already two Hermann EMS ambulances, one fire/rescue truck from the Morrison Volunteer Fire Department and one emergency helicopter heading out that direction, not to mention all the law enforcement rolling stock from the Gasconade County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri Highway Patrol in the vicinity.  And then, I further reasoned that the CNL pickup truck would be rushing out there to cover all the exciting action.  I didn't want to get in the way of the rescue workers, and I didn't want to risk getting run over by an overzealous reporter.

Later, I got word that a 1990 Ford Thunderbird had crossed the yellow line and run off the road on the opposite side.  The passenger who was wearing his seat belt had "moderate" injuries and was transported to HADH for medical treatment.  The driver who was not wearing his seat belt was ejected from the vehicle.   Unfortunately, he suffered "serious" injuries.  The driver was evacuated from the crash scene by the air ambulance.  He was transported to St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis County.  While other media outlets are publishing the names of the young men involved in the accident, we have chosen not to.  We figure it ain't none of your damned business!  These two unfortunate young fellows need time to heal up, and they don't need everybody "speculating" as to the cause of their accident.

I understand that the folks over at CNL snapped about 300 photos.  As soon as they catch up on their sleep, they have promised to post their best shots.  I'm sure there will be some neat photos of mangled steel, flashing lights, and rescue workers in action.

On a much brighter note, I can report to your that Henrietta Hornschwagel and her boyfriend, Elmer Hugz, both residents of Hermann, drove down to Washington for dinner and a movie last night without any incident at all.  They returned safely to Hermann at around 1:30 a.m.  I saw Elmer in the BP Convenience Store buying condoms, and he told me that he never crossed the yellow line once, although Henrietta was distracting him quite a bit during the drive back to Hermann.

Jimmy Oldsun
Night Desk, Investigative Reporter and Sports Reporter
www.HermannHearsay.blogspot.com

Update 10:40 am, Sunday, 4/11/2010:

The official crash report released to the public by the Missouri State Highway Patrol may be found on their website at:

www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/HP68/SearchAction 

You can enter Gasconade County into the "County" search field and 4/10/2010 into the "Date" search field and then search to find the information about the car accident which occurred around 1:15 am, 4/10/2010 near the Gasconade Bridge.

By the way, there is no subscription fee for accessing the Missouri State Highway Patrol's website.  You can search for crash reports filed by county, by Highway Patrol Troop, by date or by name.  You will get complete and "official" reports.  You just won't get the photos of the mangled steel and flashing lights.